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To take full advantage of the green opportunity, those along the distribution channel will necessarily focus on different tools and tactics to achieve their marketing and sales goals. These sections cover many of the key strategies for environmental marketing employed by various groups in the supply chain:
Third-party certifications provide independent verification of the environmental claims a manufacturer makes about its products. These certifications may apply to a range of attributes: indoor-air quality, recycled content, responsible forestry and others.
Certifying a product can provide a manufacturer with valuable benefits: differentiation from competitors, a focal point for customers during product selection, and demonstration of a company’s commitment to sustainable practices, among others.
But product certification also presents challenges. The certification process may be time-consuming and costly. With the wide variety of programs, selecting the most beneficial certification can be difficult. And after a manufacturer has secured a product certification, it must clearly convey the meaning of that to its audiences.
Baublitz Advertising, through its PlanIt Earth Environmental Marketing Plan, can help manufacturers navigate the certification process and take full advantage of its benefits. For more on various certifications, visit our Resources section.
Like most manufacturers, you have produced marketing materials that explain their product benefits: sales packets, products sheets, brochures and other tools. But are those current materials conveying your green story -- the critical environmental components of your approach?
In the emerging green market, it has become crucial to incorporate green messaging into standard materials. Many manufacturers will benefit from a stand-alone piece that explains the environmental practices of their business and the green benefits of their products. For some, the LEED guide will become a necessary sales tool.
To bring your sales materials up to date, Baublitz recommends developing an environmental platform -- a clear, fact-based document that details green benefits and key messages. Next, manufacturers should engage in a communications audit – a thorough review of all existing materials that evaluates the type of materials used, reviews the consistency of messages across all documents, and ensures the inclusion of relevant green messaging. Are current green messages vague, misleading or overblown? Is documentation for all claims readily available?
The audit results typically lead to a more comprehensive, unified approach that offers clearer, more concise messaging. A bottom-up approach to materials also offers a significant side benefit – a more cost-effective marketing communications program.
We’ve all heard about LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ), the U.S. Green Building Council’s rating system that establishes a national green standard for commercial and residential structures.
Increasingly, developers are seeking LEED certification – it offers environmental and economic benefits, it appeals to business and residential tenants, it generates positive exposure, and more. Another imperative: many local and state governments are mandating that new buildings achieve LEED certification.
Manufacturers can capitalize on the movement toward LEED, but only if they can explain to architects, designers and facility managers how their products support LEED certification. To achieve this goal, manufacturers should strongly consider development of one crucial tool: the LEED Guide.
A LEED Guide educates the key decision-makers and product specifiers about how a particular product contributes to obtaining LEED credits. This data-driven educational tool offers relevant, legitimate information on the areas in which a product can help a building earn points in one of six LEED categories.
Baublitz Advertising, a member of the USGBC, has undergone LEED training that enables us to develop meaningful content for your LEED Guide and to craft the guide’s language and design in a way that resonates with key buying audiences. Simply put, showing customers how they can meet LEED creates an outstanding sales opportunity.
Advertising can play an important role in establishing a product’s green credentials. Of course, developing that image requires a creative, well-designed ad, but that’s just a start.
Crafting a cost-effective media plan can be challenging: how do you determine the right mix of publications for your target markets? How to you ensure maximum reach? What new outlets offer green opportunities? How do you integrate your media planning with your Web approach?
Working with an experienced media planning partner can be the best solution. Baublitz Advertising has built a long track-record of success by specializing in building-industry media. Our process involves analysis of a manufacturer’s target audiences and experienced negotiation that saves clients money.
As a media planning partner, Baublitz also offers a range of placement services, from broadcast and print insertions to up-grades and make-goods. In addition, we explore sponsorships and value-added services aimed at green-minded buyers that stretch a client’s budget.
Many manufacturers take advantage of trade-show exhibits, allowing them to demonstrate the value of their products face-to-face with key customers and influencers. Trade shows also offer an excellent opportunity to build a green narrative for a product or a company.
But to take full advantage of the green opportunity during trade shows, a manufacturer must plan carefully and develop a fully integrated approach. It’s not enough to tack on a green logo. Instead, manufacturers must impart key green messages before, during and after a trade show. This process starts with show selection and continues through exhibit design, pre-show mailings, development sales materials and post-show follow up.
Public relations can play a significant role in a green marketing effort. Through news releases, articles and placed columns, manufacturers can employ the trade and consumer media to generate exposure for products and develop a company’s environmental story. Today, new outlets are emerging – both in traditional and online media – that present new opportunities for reaching audiences.
In addition, the media also provides “third party” endorsement – objectivity that helps your audience believe – and remember – coverage of a company or issue. Other tactics, such as white papers and case studies, help a manufacturer further build its green credentials.
The problem? A staff with little or no PR experience often engages in a time-consuming PR effort that yields little coverage. Baublitz offers a PR team with building-industry experience and a background in well-crafted journalism. With guidance, manufacturers can develop a green-focused PR program that is integrated with broader environmental marketing efforts and that frames their green story in way that interests important media outlets.
The web offers manufacturers one of the least expensive ways to explain their approach to all things green – and one of the most effective. In fact, 90% of those working in the construction and building materials industry say the Internet is their single most preferred source of product information.
To develop a more sophisticated, environmentally focused web presence, manufacturers should remember one rule: content is king. Be sure to clearly explain the specific green attributes, benefits and certifications of your product offerings. Explain in detail any green policies or services offered. Provide customers with links and resources that deepen their understanding, and update content as the market evolves. Finally, a distributor should review the optimization of its site to ensure that various search engines are leading interested visitors there.
A bona fide “green” product. A well-conceived plan. Clear, attention-grabbing marketing materials.
They’re all important tools in environmental marketing, but people still make the best storytellers. Every manufacturer should take time to educate its team about environmental marketing: the key goals, the key messages and the team’s role in supporting the green effort. A carefully planned training session – with carefully crafted take-away materials – will ensure all team members are consistently conveying the strongest messages about a product’s green benefits.
The next step: providing training to partner organizations along the sales channel: distributors, dealers, builders – even influencers like architects and specifiers. By enhancing knowledge of a product’s environment benefits, you increase the likelihood of future sales.
Internal and channel-partner education is cheaper than advertising – and a critical step toward success.
Distributors are seeking ways to tap into the growing market for green products. One of the best ways to get started: positioning. Before establishing an environmental marketing program, a distributor must define and articulate its value as a green company. What attributes makes a distributor green? Why do they matter to dealers, builders and homeowners? Do these green qualities set the company apart from competitors?
Armed with answers to these questions, a distributor can begin to create a green identity and position itself in the marketplace. This distributor will also have developed a solid platform for all its marketing communications, because it has determined its key messages in advance.
Increasingly, those further down the supply chain – especially end-users – will demand environmentally sustainable products and verification of, or information about, a product’s “greenness.” The forward-thinking distributor must develop the ability to understand and articulate any green attributes of the products it carries. That means taking time to separate fact from fiction when it comes to green claims of manufacturers.
As the movement toward green products gains momentum, distributors should also rethink their product selection process. Today, distributors have a range of criteria that enables them to determine which products to carry: cost, quality, brand awareness, market demand, and a supplier’s capacity, among others. Moving forward, every distributor should consider whether it will benefit from taking a leadership position in offering green products and information to dealers, builders and homeowners.
In the building industry, products typically follow a channel of distribution from manufacturer to distributor to dealer and, finally, to contractors and consumers. In the past, these players served distinct roles in marketing a product. But with the rapid emergence of green products and the green-building opportunity, forward-thinking distributors are replacing the traditional “cattle-chute” mentality with innovative marketing approaches.
A successful green marketing program will bring all channel partners to the table and clearly identify all advertising, marketing and sales strategies. In addition, it will establish clear roles for each channel partner and provide each partner the tools and training to understand and articulate a product’s environment benefits. By enhancing communications among all channel partners, distributors can improve the chances of success for the green products they carry.
A bona fide “green” product. A well-conceived plan. Clear, attention-grabbing marketing materials.
They’re all important tools in environmental marketing, but people still make the best storytellers. Every distributor should take time to educate its sales team about environmental marketing: the key messages, the key goals, and their role in support the effort. A carefully planned training session – with carefully crafted take-away materials – will ensure all team members are consistently conveying the strongest messages about a product’s green benefits. The bottom line: education is cheaper than advertising, and it can be a critical step toward success.
Dealers seeking to tap into the growing market for green products must first decide what market position they want to assume, in order to define and articulate its place in and value to the market. What attributes or products make that dealer “green”? Why does this matter to builders, remodelers and homeowners? How do these green qualities set the dealer apart from competitors?
Armed with answers to these questions, a dealer can begin to create a green identity and position itself in the marketplace. This dealer will also have developed a solid platform for all its marketing communications, because it has determined its key messages in advance.
As the green building movement gains steam, builders and homeowners will demand environmentally sustainable products and verification of, or information about, a product’s “greenness.” The forward-thinking dealer must develop the ability to understand and articulate the green attributes of the products it carries. That means taking time to separate fact from fiction when it comes to green claims by manufacturers.
Dealers should also take time to rethink their product selection process. Today, dealers use a range of criteria to determine which products to offer: cost, quality, brand awareness, market demand, and a supplier’s quality of service, among others. Moving forward, dealers should consider whether they will benefit from taking a leadership position in offering green products and information to builders, remodelers and homeowners.
A well-conceived plan. The right products. Clear, attention-grabbing marketing materials. They’re all important tools in environmental marketing, but people still make the best storytellers. Every dealer should take time to educate its sales team about environmental marketing: the key messages, the key goals, and each person’s role in support the effort.
A carefully planned training session – with carefully crafted take-away materials – will ensure all team members are consistently conveying the strongest messages about the dealer’s and its product’s green benefits. The bottom line: education is cheaper than advertising, and it can be a critical step toward success.
Every dealer confronts a similar marketing challenge: builders and remodelers are busy people. How should a dealer educate these key audiences about green building issues and market individual green products to them? One way to start: approach builders as business partners. Demonstrate why green is good for their business, and offer specific recommendations that will help builders and remodelers grow their own business. With careful planning and creative approaches, dealers can help their customers achieve two admirable goals: building greener and becoming more profitable.
Reaching out to consumers – your builders’ customers – can pay dividends to a dealer. With each passing month, the homeowner audience becomes more interested in green issues, and more sophisticated in their buying habits. With the right consumer-focused green marketing program, a dealer can drive sales of environmentally friendly products.
Most dealers realize this type of program will involve a different array of marketing tools – direct mail, print advertising, TV and radio, the Web – than they may have uses heretofore. But the explosion of the market for green products is clear evidence that a homeowner communications program can succeed in generating revenue and market share, as long as that program employs the right mix of tactics and a compelling message.
Most builders have already experienced growing homeowner demand for environmentally sustainable products and building techniques. In fact, increasingly sophisticated consumers are now inquiring whether builders use specific products, and are asking for verification of the “greenness” of various building approaches.
The savvy builder views this as an opportunity, rather than a challenge. By providing answers and options to this rapidly growing segment of homeowners, a builder can begin to brand itself as a regional leader in green building – a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.
One key to success: Keep pace with consumer knowledge. Use dealer and manufacturer partnerships to stay ahead of the curve on green products and issues. Become active in local, regional and national builder associations – groups that provide builders with valuable education on green issues and techniques, but can also serve as the voice in the development of green building policies.
Builders seeking to tap into the growing market for green products need to first decide where they stand, and why. Before establishing an environmental marketing program, a builder must define and articulate its value as a green company.
What attributes, building techniques, or services make a builder green? Why do these matter to homeowners? How do these green qualities set the builder apart from competitors?
Armed with answers to these questions, a builder can begin to create a green identity and position itself in the marketplace. This builder will also have developed a solid platform for all its marketing communications, because it has determined its key messages in advance.
The two certification programs dominating the marketplace are LEED for Homes, or LEED-H, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the National Green Building Standard, created by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). At the very least, builders should be aware of these programs and their criteria for project designation. Builders should also recognize that certification of a home can also be a powerful marketing device and a tool for differentiation.
LEED for Homes is a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes. It is the homebuilder version of LEED, an environmental certification program that has been successfully integrated into the commercial building market.
The National Green Building Standard was unveiled by the NAHB in 2008. The standard requires builders to include features in seven categories of sustainability: energy, water and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality and homeowner education. Though LEED was developed earlier, many believe the National Green Building Standard has a key advantage: a built-in market that includes NAHB’s thousands of builder-members.
Most builders already employ construction techniques that save them – and their homeowner customers – time and money. But there are dozens of other techniques, from recycling and reclamation to standardized energy-saving design principles that can help make a project – and a builder – greener. And the good news is that most of these practices add to the value but not the cost of a home, and make long-term home ownership more attractive and more affordable.
The forward-thinking builder must develop the ability to understand and articulate any green attributes of the products it carries. That means taking time to separate fact from fiction when it comes to green claims of manufacturers. As the movement toward green products gains momentum, builders should rethink their product selection process. One way to achieve that: close partnership with your dealer. Moving forward, every builder should consider whether it will benefit from taking a leadership position in offering green products and information to its homeowner customers.
Many successful builders have developed programs for reaching out to homeowners. Now, as homeowners become more interested in green issues and more sophisticated in their buying habits, builders should revisit every aspect of their communications program. Are the green messages clear and unmistakable, and do they accurately reflect your company’s positioning? Are the tactics a builder currently employs the right ones for reaching its audience?
The right consumer-focused green marketing program can generate new leads and contribute to the buying decision of prospects. Of course, that requires selecting the right blend of marketing tools: direct mail, public relations, outdoor, print advertising, TV and radio, the Web and more. The explosion of the market for green products indicates that a homeowner communications program can succeed in generating revenue and market share – as long as that program employs the right mix of tactics and a compelling message